1989 – Page 5 – Real 80s CCM

Holm, Sheppard, Johnson – Soldiers Again – 1989

Dallas Holm, Tim Sheppard, and Phil Johnson first came together in 1981 and put out a self titled album. At the time they were all under contract to Greentree Records so there was no contractual issues to work out. They had to wait until 1989 to put out a second album as along the way they were under contract to different record companies and this can cause unsurmountable legal issues. In 1989 none of them were under a contract so they were able to record a follow up album. This is that album. I actually consider them to be a supergroup as they were 3 very top ranked vocalists. Now you normally wouldn’t apply the term supergroup when it comes to the worship genre but I think they deserve it. The album was fairly successful on the CCM charts with “Feel Every Heartbeat” making it to #3 and “Soldiers Again” just poking on to the charts at #40. If you’re a fan of worship oriented music don’t miss out on listening to this one, I’m guessing you’ll love it.

Tracklist
1 – Feel Every Heartbeat – 4:25
2 – Give Me This Water – 4:31
3 – Fighter – 3:13
4 – Standin’ There – 4:00
5 – Child In His Arms – 4:02
6 – Run For The Finish Line – 3:36
7 – City – 4:16
8 – Wisdom – 4:57
9 – I Can See Your House – 3:06
10 – Soldiers Again – 4:17

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Mark Baldwin
Arranged By – Smitty Price
Art Direction – Amy Linde, Terri Short
Bass – Gary Lunn
Cello – John Catchings
Design – Ken Spradley
Drums, Percussion – Dennis Holt
Electric Guitar – Jerry McPhearson, Mark Baldwin
Engineer [Additional] – JB, Smitty Price
Engineer [Assistant] – John Harley, John Kunz, Michael Vasquez
Keyboards – Reed Arvin, Smitty Price
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Photography By – Neill Whitlock
Producer – Neal Joseph
Recorded By [Vocals] – Paul Mills
Recorded By, Mixed By – JB
Saxophone – Mark Douthit

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Dallas Sound Lab
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Recorded At – BDR Sound
Mixed At – Dallas Sound Lab
Mastered At – Mastermix

Margaret Becker – Immigrants Daughter – 1989

After a wonderful debut and solid sophomore effort something happened to Margaret Becker that would change the direction of her musical progression for the better and help her create one of the truly great female rock albums in CCM history. Someone introduced her to Charlie Peacock. With Peacock’s help Becker created “Immigrant’s Daughter,” a thoughtful, and rock filled pop album with alternative underpinnings. Sounding now a little more like Annie Lennox than Ann Wilson, Becker’s vocal chops expanded and sounded more current and original. Subdued when needed and blowing up when necessary, her vocals here would not be matched until much later on some independent releases. Also with Peacock’s oversight, the songwriting became more introspective and universal. Christian themes combined with real human experiences to create a more passionate and authentic record. The personal expression is found immediately with the title track and continues throughout the project. The album also sounded more “current” and pulled Becker out of the “Chick Rocker” track and allowed to expand and grow as an artist and songwriter. Wonderful rockers and paired with ballads and “modern” musical expressions that also found radio to be quite responsive. Not every ballad has to be “These dreams” or “Alone” as sometimes the softer side provides a more memorable and authentic experience. There are so many strong songs here but a few worth receiving special notation include: Solomon’s Shoes, This Is My Passion, Stay Close to Me and the title track. The cover of “People Get Ready” is also a nice touch to close the album.

Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Immigrant’s Daughter – 4:25
2 – This Is My Passion – 4:03
3 – Stay Close To Me – 3:08
4 – The Hunger Stays – 4:06
5 – Just Come In – 4:25
6 – I Commit – 4:22
7 – Honesty – 3:44
8 – Solomon’s Shoes – 3:13
9 – Laugh A Little – 3:42
10 – People Get Ready – 3:39

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Jimmy Abegg, Margaret Becker
Art Direction – Barbara Hearn, Larry Vigon
Backing Vocals – Annie Stocking, Brent Bourgeois, Charlie Peacock, Jeanie Tracy, Margaret Becker, Vince Ebo
Bass – Larry Tagg
Design – Larry Vigon Studio
Drums – Mike Urbano
Electric Guitar – Jimmy Abegg
Engineer [Additional] – Bill Deaton, David Houston
Executive-Producer – Peter York
Liner Notes – Margaret Becker
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Mixed By [Assistant] – Derek Marcil, Jared Held
Organ [Hammond B-3] – Roger Smith
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Piano, Keyboards – Charlie Peacock
Producer, Arranged By – Charlie Peacock
Recorded By – Rick Sanchez
Recorded By [Assistant] – Jim “Watts” Vereecke
Written-By – Charlie Peacock (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 8, 9), Curtis Mayfield (tracks: 10), Leonard Ahlstrom (tracks: 6), Margaret Becker (tracks: 1 to 9), Mike Demus (tracks: 6)

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Studio D
Recorded At – Moon Studios, Sacramento
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Recorded At – Studio 55, Los Angeles
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright (c) – The Sparrow Corporation
Published By – His Eyes Music
Published By – SBK Blackwood Music Inc.
Published By – Andi Beat Goes On Music
Published By – Paragon Music Corp.
Published By – Sunday Shoes Music
Published By – Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia

Believer – Extraction From Mortality – 1989

This was the first studio album from Believer but they had released an impossible to find demo in 1987. In 1988 they had a track on the East Coast Metal sampler and though that sampler was released by Regency it was actually R.E.X. Music that stepped up to release this album. So here we have a rather good thrash album. The album utilizes sound sampling on several tracks which to the best of my knowledge was a first in Christian Metal. That said I’m not really an expert in the genre. I think I will actually have to make up a new classification for the album, Commercial Thrash. I think there might be some appeal here even if you don’t care for thrash. Personally I don’t care for thrash but there are a few tracks here that I found myself listening to. It didn’t leave me wanting to hear more thrash but it did leave me wanting to hear more from Believer.

Tracklist
1 – Unite – 6:42
2 – Vile Hypocrisy – 5:36
3 – D.O.S. (Desolation Of Sodom) – 4:22
4 – Tormented – 3:52
5 – Shadow Of Death – 4:21
6 – Blemished Sacrifices – 3:58
7 – Not Even One – 3:38
8 – Extraction From Mortality – 6:07
9 – Stress – 3:03

Credits
Bass, Written-By – Howe Kraft
Drums, Mixed By, Written-By – Joey Daub
Engineer, Mixed By – Paul Krueger
Guitar, Vocals, Mixed By, Written-By – Kurt Bachman
Guitar, Written-By – Dave Baddorf
Illustration, Layout, Design – Jeff Spencer
Producer, Mixed By – Doug Mann
Violin, Viola – Scott Laird

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Morningstar Studios
Distributed By – Word (U.K.) Ltd
Made By – Music Manufacturers

9th Street – The Prayer – 1989

9th Street were a UK band that initially signed a record deal with German label Bellaphon. They then were able to secure deals in Canada, Italy, and strangely, South Africa. I can not find any info that this album was released in the United States but it was probably available as an import. Other than that I am unable to find out anything else about this band. Their sound is excellent. It’s a new wave pop sound that I think would have done well in the United States. I really enjoyed listening to this album and the cover of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” is probably one of the best I’ve heard. If you missed this one in the 80’s, and you probably did, it’s well worth a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Feel It – 3:17
2 – Some Time – 5:31
3 – The Feeling’s Gone – 4:46
4 – The Prayer – 4:32
5 – Tonight – 4:44
6 – Nobody Knows – 3:52
7 – Confusion – 6:00
8 – Ordinary Man – 4:36
9 – Sabotage And Secrets – 4:20
10 – I Heard It Through The Grapevine – 3:28

Credits
Guitars – Keith Beauvais
Keyboards – Kevin Mason
Producer, Recorded By – Rod Gammons
Saxophone – Chris Margary
Vocals – Mark Applin

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Bellaphon
Copyright (c) – C-Side Records
Recorded At – Rod Gammons Soundstudio
Recorded At – Berwick Street Studios
Produced For – C-Side Records

Armageddon – The Money Mask – 1989

This is the Introductory album from Armageddon. The band actually started up in 1987 as Second Chance and had a couple of Demo’s using that name. There were a few lineup changes in this time but nothing unusual for a new band. It was strange however that they brought in several session musicians to help out with this album which is not something you usually see with a Metal band. Apparently the band went into the studio to release the album themselves but R.E.X. Music decided to take a chance on it and stick their name on it. Unfortunately very few copies were pressed so there wasn’t much distribution of the album. As for the album I think it’s pretty good, several tracks lean hard rock instead of metal and quite frankly I found several tracks to my liking and I don’t really care for Metal. Though this was the only album from the band in the 80’s/90’s but they soldiered on and continued recording and self releasing music in the 2000’s. They now refer to themselves as Armageddon USA. This album was re-released in 2007 by Retroactive Records with an additional disc of bonus material. If I get my hands on that bonus disc I’ll be sure to review it.

Tracklist
1 – The Money Mask – 3:20
2 – Mercenaries Of Injustice – 4:08
3 – More Than Conquerors – 3:58
4 – Looking Out For You – 5:42
5 – The Ship Of Changes – 5:23
6 – (Liberation From) Blazing Wasteland – 3:45
7 – Nightlight – 5:44
8 – Giving It To You – 4:23
9 – The Judge – 4:50
10 – We’re Outa’ Here – 3:59

Credits
Backing Vocals – Charlie Phillips, Mike Vance, Paul Krueger (tracks: 9)
Bass – Dan Wilkinson
Design – Jeff Spencer
Drums – Joe Hasselvander (tracks: 2, 3, 4, 10), Mark Miley (tracks: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Guitar – Charlie Phillips (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10), Phil Zeo (tracks: 5, 7, 8), Robby Lee (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10)
Keyboards – Janusz Smulski, Lamont Coward (tracks: 5)
Lead Vocals – Mike Vance
Mixed By – Paul Krueger
Producer – Paul Krueger
Twelve-String Guitar – Phil Zeo (tracks: 5)

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – R.E.X. Music
Manufactured By – American Helix Technology Corporation
Produced For – K Productions
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Talkingtown Records
Copyright (c) – Talkingtown Records
Pressed By – American Helix
Published By – Second Chance Music
Published By – Lamont Coward Publishing
Recorded At – Morning Star Communications

Straightway – Black or White – 1989

Straightway were a Mid 80’s Metal band out of Houston, Texas who had a couple demo’s before releasing this EP in 1989. It has a very commercial Metal sound and is actually pretty well produced considering they produced it themselves. In reality this is a 4 song EP with a short instrumental and a novelty rap song. In my opinion they should have just left then off. The rap track is ridiculous and difficult to listen to but maybe my opinion would have been different in 1989. Actually I doubt it. So let’s remove those 2 tracks from the review and talk about the final 4. Like I said they have a pretty commercial sound and I’m a little surprised they didn’t have a follow up album but I honestly feel their Beastie Boys’ish rap track hurt them. Actually if someone had done a Beastie Boy’s type album it might have had some success but I wouldn’t have bought it. So if you like your metal with a commercial feel this is the EP for you.

Tracklist
1 – Black Or White – 4:32
2 – Come Back – 3:58
3 – Intro In C# Minor – 0:36
4 – Wounded Heart – 4:41
5 – Christ Is King – 5:05
6 – Don’t Even Swerve – 1:29

Credits
Artwork [Logo] – Juan Hidalgo
Bass, Vocals – Mark Walton
Drums, Vocals – Damon Tankersley
Engineer – Cary Wise
Lead Guitar – Doug Middleton
Lead Vocals, Keyboards – David Walton
Other [Hair & Makeup] – Renee Arrowood
Photography By – Jesslar Photography
Producer – Straightway
Rhythm Guitar, Vocals – Mike Locke

Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – Platinum Records International
Recorded At – Fourth Creation Studio, Conroe, Texas

The Reach – Under The Same Sky – 1989

Before “In Reach” there was “The Reach”. They were essentially the same band with some slight personnel changes. Though they had 2 demo’s this is their first real album. The album was produced by David Zaffiro (Bloodgood). I don’t know if that’s why Image Records picked them up or if it was because Image picked them up. I really can’t find out too much information about the band so I guess I’ll talk about the album. I was really surprised at how good this album was considering it’s relatively unknown. It has a great 80’s pop sound though I have seen some writers refer to it as an AOR album but I actually beg to differ. The album if anything leans rock but is definitely a pop album. Maybe I’m splitting hairs here but the AOR title just doesn’t seem appropriate to this album for me. The lead track makes you want to listen to the whole album and I would have played it when I was a secular DJ. It definitely could have held it’s own on the Billboard charts. I’m not saying a top 10 but it could have made top 100 no problem. So if you missed this one in the 80’s you should give it a listen now and see what you missed, I think you’ll like it.

Tracklist
1 – Vogue – 3:15
2 – Rightful One – 3:27
3 – Big Time – 2:40
4 – 1 Lufthgir – 0:22
5 – Under The Same Sky – 4:05
6 – Tonight – 4:01
7 – B-4-I-Go – 4:14
8 – You Are The Light – 3:02
9 – 1000 Candles – 3:00

Credits
Arranged By – The Reach
Backing Vocals – Dave Schuller, Paula Meserole
Bass – Scott Burell
Consultant [Mixing Consultant] – Terry Shelton
Design [Album Design], Art Direction – James Jacobson
Drums, Percussion, Sound Designer [Sounds Effective], Text By [Sleeve Text Layout Assistant] – Vince Grant
Engineer, Mixed By, Edited By, Guitar [Additional] – Charles Meserole
Executive-Producer – Dorn Reppert
Guitar – Ken Mesford
Keyboards – Brooke Lizotte, David Hubbard
Producer, Arranged By, Engineer, Mixed By, Edited By, Backing Vocals, Sound Designer [Sounds Effective] – David Zaffiro
Vocals, Guitar, Backing Vocals – Brett Williams

Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – Image Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Image Records
Recorded At – Extra Sensory Productions
Mastered At – Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios

Jacob’s Trouble – Door Into Summer – 1989

This was the introductory album from Jacob’s Trouble. I can’t find any info on the band before they hit the studio to record this album. The album was produced by Terry Taylor (Daniel Amos) and Gene Eugene helped out on keyboards. The album features both a Monkees cover “Door Into Summer”, and a Beatles cover “Tell Me What You See”, The rest of the album has a Beatles / Monkees feel and sound too. Their future albums were better received than this one and I can understand why. This album seemed kind of dull to me. I just can’t get excited about it. It’s not a bad album just kind of dull. That said this is an important milestone in CCM music for who the band was and what they would become.

Tracklist
1 – Wind And Wave – 5:14
2 – Tell Me What You See – 3:20
3 – She Smiles At The Future – 3:59
4 – Church Of Do What You Want To – 4:45
5 – Awfully Familiar – 4:58
6 – Waiting For The Son – 4:15
7 – Door Into Summer – 3:07
8 – If You Believe – 4:22
9 – Million Miles – 3:28
10 – All For You – 3:38
11 – Psalm 151 – 3:51

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Terry Taylor
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Backing Vocals – Jerry Chamberlain, Ric Alba, The Troubling Jacobury’s
Bass [Rickenbacker], Vocals, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Steve Atwell
Drums, Vocals, Tambourine, Backing Vocals – Jerry Davison
Engineer – Gene Eugene
Guitar, Twelve-String Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Backing Vocals – Mark Blackburn
Guitar, Keyboards, E-Bow – Greg Flesch
Photography By – Michael Seeley
Piano, Keyboards – Gene Eugene
Producer – Terry Taylor
Tambourine, Maracas, Percussion [Etc.] – Alex MacDougall
Written-By – Jerry Davison, Mark Blackburn, Steve Atwell, Terry Taylor

Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – Broken Songs
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.

D.O.X. – Through The Fire – 1989

This is the second and last album from D.O.X. For this album they moved over to Nikolai Pankratz’s Pan-Trax Records. This also marked the departure of the involvement of Rob Watson, Terry Taylor, and Tim Chandler. I have no idea what the story behind the first album was but it appears the band were doing their own thing for this album. They also changed drummers with Dave Fiorazo replacing Robert Foster. This album was produced by Bill Baumgart who I usually really like but I don’t think he did a great job with this album. It’s not the quality of the music that I have an issue with as the album is very well done. My small criticism is the varying styles on the album. There’s Pop, Rock, and even a metal tune (R U Runnin’). The album just doesn’t flow but it is a great album. The songs are great and the band is defiantly good. Too bad they came to an end after this album, there was a lot of talent here.

Tracklist
1 – Cutting Edge – 3:34
2 – I See A Day – 3:34
3 – Through The Fire – 4:36
4 – Don’t Look Back – 4:45
5 – Can’t You See – 3:50
6 – R U Runnin’ – 3:16
7 – Hearts On Fire – 3:16
8 – The Love That I Needed – 3:11
9 – Faces In The Wall – 3:40

Credits
Art Direction, Illustration [Cover Illustration & Logo] – Jeff Foster
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Allison Beech, Bill Baumgart, Bob Carlisle
Bass Guitar, Chapman Stick – Jeff Foster
Booking – Frontrunner Agency, Stan Gill
Drums, Percussion – Dave Fiorazo
Engineer – Dan Abernathy, Dave Jahnsen
Engineer [Mastering Engineer] – John Matousek
Keyboards – Tim Heintz
Lead Guitar – Dennis Verner, Rick Lane
Lead Vocals, Words By – Mark de la Bretonne
Music By – Mark de la Bretonne, Rick Lane
Photography By – Bridgewater Photography
Producer – Bill Baumgart
Rhythm Guitar – Rick Lane
Saxophone – Eric Marienthal
Sound Designer [Live Sound], Tour Manager [Road Support] – Dave Wagner

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pan-Trax Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pan-Trax Records, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Pan-Trax Records
Copyright (c) – Pan-Trax Records, Inc.
Manufactured By – Pan-Trax Records, Inc.
Pressed By – Discovery Systems
Recorded At – Asylomar Studios
Recorded At – Studio West, San Diego
Mastered At – Hitsville

Kellye Huff – In A Special Way – 1989

I think the entire Huff family came together to help Kellye get her first album out. The album was released on the Huff families record label “Giant Records” and Kellye had just debuted the year earlier on the David and the Giants album “Strangers To The Night”. It only had one charting single with “In A Special Way” just making it onto the charts at #40. What we have here is a slightly poppier version of David and the Giants with Kellye doing lead vocals. I am actually pretty impressed with her vocal skills, she obviously inherited the family music gift. That said the vocals are a little thin in places but it is her first album and there was much to be learnt yet. I’m looking forward to hearing her second album and hopefully hearing that development.

Tracklist
1 – Anticipation – 3:07
2 – Who In The World – 3:32
3 – All My Days – 3:46
4 – Tailor Me – 3:34
5 – In A Special Way – 3:38
6 – Sing His Song – 3:19
7 – I Cherish Thee – 3:37
8 – Glory Hallelujah – 3:23
9 – All I Need – 3:56
10 – Little Lamb – 4:49

Credits
Kellye Huff – Lead and Background Vocals
Lloyd Bustard – Songwriter
Rick Cooper – Songwriter
Karen Harding – Background Vocals
Clayborn Huff – Engineer, Songwriter, Bass
David W. Huff – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Songwriter, Guitars, Mandolin, Background Vocals
Lance Huff – Drums, Percussion
Rayborn Huff – Engineer, Songwriter, Programming, Keyboards, Background Vocals
Anthony Neal – Saxophone
Terry Ostovich – Mixed
Tim Pedigo – Background Vocals
Larry Rust – Keyboards
Donnie Sanders – Saxophone
Tommy Sims – Songwriter, Keyboards
Hank Williams – Mastered

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Giant Records
Copyright (c) – Giant Records
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Distributed By – Mitchell Family Books, Inc.
Pressed By – Nimbus